The 3rd Metropolitan FIDE Invitational concluded
this weekend on February 27th. It was organized by Ankit Gupta and directed by
Randy Hough and Michael Belcher.FM Philip Xiao Wang and
FM Joel Banawa both achieved their
first IM norms with 6.5 out of 9.0. It is coincidental to note that these two
tied for first at the closed SoCal State Championship last year, before again
tying for 2nd at this norm tournament and both achieving their IM norms. IM
Jacek Stopa took clear first with 7.0 out of 9.0.Below is a game that Banawa played against
IM Tim Taylor near the end of the tournament as he was closing in on his norm
result.The tournament was sponsored by California Market Center, Fashion Business, Inc, Chess.com,LawyerFy,
and Betty Bottom Showroom.

Standings from this
tournament are fully updated on the website on the schedule page of the
Metropolitan Chess website atwww.metrochessla.com